By Chiara Palomera Perez
The HC IMPACT Week of Service recently celebrated its 10-year anniversary with its largest class yet, with 69 first-year Honors students participating. Since its inception, the program and its associated first-year seminar have resulted in approximately 15,000 community engagement hours.
“The HC IMPACT program allows Honors College students to build lasting connections beyond the walls of MSU,” said Honors College Dean Glenn Chambers. “We’re taking the university’s land-grant mission seriously by equipping these students with the tools, knowledge, and experiences to help the greater community.”
Every August, HC IMPACT gives incoming first-year Honors College and Academic Scholars Program students an opportunity to experience their new community through service with various community organizations. They arrive at MSU as budding first-year students, beginning a new chapter alongside one another. Whilst sharing the same journey, where it takes them can look completely different.
More than 50 surveyed alumni have reflected on what a decade of HC IMPACT means to them. Their stories show the program has been about more than one week of service. For many, it became a starting point, helping them find community, discover new interests, form lasting relationships, and shape the way they wanted to make an impact at MSU and beyond.
A Decade of Unique Stories from HC IMPACT Alumni
For some, HC IMPACT turned a one-week experience into years of service.
For Alexis Litts, a 2022 participant, an introduction to the Allen Neighborhood Center’s Breadbasket Food Pantry became a four-year commitment. After connecting with the organization through HC IMPACT, she went on to volunteer there every week throughout her time at MSU and found two of her closest friends along the way.
“Leaving ANC was one of my hardest goodbyes when I graduated from MSU in May,” said Litts.
For some, HC IMPACT helped shape a career path.
Emily Bourgeois, a 2019 participant, entered MSU expecting to become a scientist. Through HC IMPACT, she explored connections between public health, the environment, community engagement, and nonprofit work. Bourgeois later worked as a community organizer in mid-Michigan and now helps local governments administer infrastructure projects.
“I’ve always credited HC IMPACT as the experience that helped me change my major and helped me weave together my interests in nonprofit work, public health, and the environment into a compelling career,” said Bourgeois.
For others, it became the first source of belonging in college through friendship, confidence, and connection.
For Sharif Safwan, a 2021 participant and international student, HC IMPACT was one of the first chapters of his life in the United States. The experience helped him find belonging in a new country. Today, he works as a financial analyst in New York.
“It’s meaningful to look back at HC IMPACT as one of the very first chapters of my journey in the U.S.,” Safwan said.
That feeling of connection extended beyond a student’s first weeks at MSU. Maria Kloboves Cinzori, a 2018 participant who is now a Ph.D. candidate in Human Nutrition-Environmental Toxicology at MSU, shared: “Because of HC IMPACT, I made Lansing my home.”
For others, the experience continues through the ways they give back. Many alumni return as mentors after completing the program. Zoe McAlister, a 2025 participant, returned as a mentor just one year after participating. Her experience strengthened her interest in improving access to mental health resources in underserved communities.
“This program helped open my eyes to the needs of the world, further directing my career path to include those who are most frequently left behind,” McAlister said.
After 10 years, one thing is clear: HC IMPACT doesn’t lead alumni toward a single major, profession, or way of serving their communities.
Alumni have gone on to become educators, researchers, health professionals, nonprofit leaders, advocates, mentors, and public servants. Some have maintained relationships with organizations they first encountered during the program. Others have carried forward friendships, a stronger sense of belonging, or a deeper understanding of their responsibility to their communities.
Each story looks different, but they all began with the same week of service.